New US ambassador to Czech Republic approved by Senate

The US Senate on Wednesday confirmed the US president’s proposal for top
lawyer with Czech roots, Andrew Schapiro, to be the country’s ambassador
in the Czech Republic. The current ambassador, Norman Eisen, is due to quit
the Prague post in August. Schapiro is said to be close to the president,
having been a fellow student of law at Harvard University and later going
on to help with the financing of Obama’s political campaigns. He is
currently a practicing lawyer at the firm of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart and
Sullivan, known for its business litigation. Schapiro’s mother left
Prague in 1939 in fear of Nazi persecution.

Czech economic confidence slips in July

Czech economic confidence fell for the first time this year in July
according to the Czech Statistics Office. The overall composite confidence
index slipped over the month by 0.7 points to stand at 7.6.points. Although
consumer confidence continued to firm, companies have become more worried
about the economic situation and outlook, the office said. Confidence in
the hard hit construction sector climbed but industrial companies were
among those which have switched to a more pessimistic and cautious outlook.
The composite index stood at 5.5 points in January.

TOP 09 seen winning Prague local elections

Centre right party TOP 09 has a high chance of retaining its position as
the biggest party in the Czech capital when Prague City Council elections
are held in October. A survey by the polling agency SANEP suggested that
TOP 09 would be the strongest party with 21.3 percent support. A three way
coalition of the Christian Democrats, Mayors and Independents, and Green
Party could win 14.2 percent of votes. The ANO party would come in third
place with 12.4 percent followed by the Social Democrats with 11.8 percent,
Civic Democrats with 11.1 percent and Communist Party of Bohemia and
Moravia with 7.6 percent. The Pirate party and Free Citizens Party would
also get more 5.0 percent of the vote according to the survey. TOP 09
currently govern Prague City Hall in coalition with the Social Democrats.

Ongoing problems with the restitution of church property will be resolved
by a government committee prime minister Bohuslav Sobotka told the lower
house of parliament on Thursday. Sobotka intervened in a debate over the
controversial subject called jointly by the Communist Party of Bohemia and
Moravia and the Dawn party. The prime minister attacked the deal to
compensate churches and religious group for confiscations undertaken by the
former Communist regime, saying that mechanism were lacking to check that
property was not given back which religious groups had not owned in the
first place. Sobotka’s Social Democrat party has attempted to reopen the
restitution settlement agreed by the former centre-right coalition
government without success.

Inspectors found more than half Prague restaurants inflate bills for
foreigners

Czech inspectors have found that more than half the restaurants they
checked up on discriminated against foreign clients. The inspectors from
the Czech Commercial Inspectorate found that eight out of 13 restaurants
they checked up on added extra charges to the bills of foreign customers
compared with Czechs. Agents went undercover for the inspections by
pretending they could only speak English. Other shortcomings were found at
nine out of the 13 restaurants. The inspectorate pointed out that Prague is
highly reliant on tourists with the aim that they should be treated fairly
and not exploited. The inspectorate said it would continue checks
throughout the tourist season and beyond because restaurants also served
ex-pats living in Prague.

Czech parties seek to get in on Věra Jourová European Commission team

Czech parties are now seeking to get their nominees in the team likely to
accompany European Commission candidate Věra Jourová to Brussels. The
Christian Democrats have confirmed that they are pushing for unsuccessful
European Parliament candidate Eduard Hulicius to be part of Jourová’s
team. The Social Democrats are also pressing for a representative to be
part of the Cabinet as well. ANO’s first deputy chairwoman and current
Minister for Regional Development should be confirmed by the government as
the Czech nominee for the future commission late on Thursday.

Kuřim affair aunt conditionally released from prison

One woman in a highly publicized Czech child abuse case known as the Kuřim
affair, after the town near Brno, has been conditionally released from
prison. Kateřina Mauerová was sentenced to 10 years in prison as one of
the ringleaders of a six-strong group who tyrannized her two young nephews.
They were kept in a cage, burnt with cigarettes, and beaten in what was
described as an attempt to induce total obedience. The case only came to
light by chance in 2007 when a neighbour installed a baby monitoring device
which picked up images of the close circuit tv used to monitor the abused
children. A national furore followed in which the accused were rumoured to
be linked to various sects.

Olomouc university centre stage for centipede congress

Olomouc’s Palacký University Faculty of Science is hosting an
international conference about centipedes, millipedes and related insects.
The conference is giving particular attention this year to the largely
untapped medicinal uses that they could be used for. Some of the insects
secrete substances which have already been found to give partial protection
against malaria or to reduce pain. The first such conference was held in
Paris in 1968 and the last was held in Brisbane, Australia in 2011.

Sparta Prague to face Swedish league leaders Malmo in Champions League
qualifier

In football, Sparta Prague will face current Swedish league leaders Malmo
in the third round of the Champions League. The Swedes secured their place
in the next round after a 1:0 win at home. The first round of the two round
tie against Sparta takes place next Tuesday in Prague. Elsewhere, Czech
clubs Mladá Boleslav and Slovan Liberec play Thursday night in the
qualifying stage of the Europa League. Slovan have a 1:0 lead against
Slovak club Kosice from the away leg while Mladá Boleslav take a 2:1
victory at home to Bosnia and Herzegovina club Široki Brijeg.

Petr Čech trains with Chelsea after shoulder recovery

Czech goalkeeper Petr Čech has recovered from his injured shoulder and for
the first time since April has taken part in a full training session with
his club, Chelsea. He has been recovering since the injury in the
semi-final of the Champions League against Atlético Madrid and surgery
which took place in May. Chelsea are making a pre-season tour in Europe as
key members of the squad return after world cup duty.